Ep. 106 | WNBA Narratives, Coco Gauff & The Stories We Tell About Athletes

Every headline tells a story. The question is: who's writing it?

This week, Jen and KB unpack the narratives shaping today's sports landscape, beginning with the WNBA All-Star Draft, the ongoing conversations surrounding Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, and why media coverage often overshadows the basketball itself. Jen brings historical context to the league's growth, expansion, and fan culture, while KB explores how public perception, competition, and storytelling influence the way athletes are viewed.

The aunties also react to Coco Gauff's early Wimbledon exit, Naomi Osaka's candid comments about mental health, and the emotional challenges elite athletes face when expectations continue long after the trophies are won. From tennis to basketball, they discuss what resilience really looks like beyond the scoreboard.

Plus, they weigh in on Mike Brown becoming the next head coach of the New York Knicks, Detroit's dominant Tigers season, Ben Shelton's Wimbledon run, and the growing influence of women as sports fans, consumers, and storytellers.

More than a recap of the week's headlines, this episode explores the business of sports, the culture surrounding the games, and the people at the center of every conversation.

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Two aunties. Two mics. All game.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome to Auntie's Talk Sports, where we go beyond the game and explore the intersection of sports and culture for female fans. We are two aunties, two Mikes, all game. I am Jennifer, a.k.a. Auntie Jen, a.k.a. Jen Jen Beat. And I am Kalia, also known as KB. How you doing tonight? It's been a rough week, and it's only Tuesday. It's not rough. It hasn't been bad. It was just that I was thinking that the holiday weekend, oh, it's going to be a long weekend. And it went so fast. And usually, weekends go by fast. you know pretty smoothly for me but I feel like the holiday weekend went by really fast and it was just yeah well I think for some reason I feel like 4th of July is always supposed to be on a Monday you know what I mean because then you get the Monday off and sometimes the Tuesday but we're in summer shutdown so I don't go back until next week but oh you go back next week yeah so we were summer shutdown until tomorrow but then I actually was supposed to be in Indiana for a conference and they canceled. So I was like, I'm just going to take the rest of the week off and go back on Monday. But yeah, really tried to prioritize rest. It did. It did. I didn't come out the house for like three days. I cooked a little bit this weekend. But no, I got talked about because I had some gentrified ribs. I didn't get no invite, but that's okay. It wasn't nothing special. It was just a little thing, a macaroni and cheese, a little thing of some baked beans, some little hot dogs in the air fryer. Real, real simple. But Yeah, I made these gentrified ribs that I got talked about. Gentrified ribs. Do I even want to know? What did you do to make gentrified ribs? I got to know that. So I belong to a subscription service for locally produced meat. It's the marrow box. So once a month I get, you know, bacon, ground beef, steak, you know, different kind of cuts of steak. And they sent a slab of smoked ribs. Okay, so me, I don't really like to grill. I was like, I'm about to pull these bad boys out. I'm about to slather them in some barbecue sauce and I'm putting them in the oven because they were already done. They were smoked, right? So I'm like, hey, this should pass mustard. No, my kids talked about me so bad. They came smoked. Yeah, that's gentrified. They came smoked. That's the gentrified part. They came smoked and I wouldn't say cares in particular is a rib connoisseur she is always a judge for the family rib off and so she tore them apart oh yeah she was like where did you get this meat from I was like it came in the box but did she eat it No, she really didn't. Cam ate it, but you know, I mean, hey, I keep telling them it's too hot. It's too hot to be slaving over a stove or the grill. It's 90 plus degrees, so shout out to Mero. Otherwise, they're good. It was 7 p.m. Friday, 95 degrees. Okay. 7 a.m., 10 a.m., 12. It's been hot as hell, so... Okay. Yeah. Don't call me over for no gentrified games. We don't have a problem. So I'm good.

UNKNOWN 4:03

I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

But you have a Costco membership because they got good seasoned ribs and people. people love them I make them and they're real easy and people love them I have to go I've been seeing a couple things I'm usually I'm a Sam's girly but I've been seeing a few things at Costco actually that I do want to pick up so I may have to get a membership too no you can just go with me oh okay I have a Sam's membership to my brother oh okay so I would look do they pay the thing okay I still got it yeah yeah but I'm trying to think What else took place this weekend? Of course, watching a little bit of sports, seeing what's going on. There's a lot happening. Yeah, always some crazy stuff. What was top of your list? I'm looking at the WNBA All-Star Draft as we speak right now, and I'm looking at these... Rosters come together. I'm so messy. I want Caitlyn to pick Angel so they can be on the team and shut all this noise down. But she's not about to do that. I wish she would just have the oomph to do it. Like, I wish you would have called her and be like, look, Angel, we could put, we could shut everybody up. I could draft you on my all-star team. We could be on the same team in the all-star game. But I don't think she, I don't think she really likes Angel. Right? I don't want to believe this. Yeah. I don't want to believe that narrative. So, I'm looking at what's happening to see who picks it. But that's going on now. I think people think that Angel doesn't like Caitlyn. But if we go back to the origination of the beef, it was really Angel who did the You Can't See Me. They beat Caitlyn and them in the finals, NCAA finals. So I think really, probably, Caitlyn has more animosity toward Angel than the other way around. I don't know what's true. I want to hear it. Unless they say it, I don't know what's true. I would like to think that neither one of them hate each other. I would like to think... And I know, you know, I just, I just, you know, I wish, I wish that they were like on the phone at night. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't even know why you wish that. I am a Kumbaya cancer. No, I'm not. I want everybody to get along. I want everybody to get along and in harmony. No. And remember, I use, look, I'm the youngest of 10, 10. My brothers and sisters used to beat me. I get it I get it naturally they used to beat me up my sister I rushed my sister one time and she kicked me up in the air and I flew up against the dresser and I couldn't go tell my mother and I had to play with her the next day you know so like I like everybody to get along and yeah well as a Leo that's just my wish my entire life like people have always thought that like I don't like them and it's like I don't really care enough about you not to like you if I don't like you I'm not you might not ever know it right but it takes well you might know because I won't say right so it takes some effort not to like someone and for me it's like you ain't really worth my effort to even not like you and so I feel like that's Angel like you know Angel's kind of in a different direction You know, she has a different lifestyle, you know, wants to get into the fashion piece. Angel's not worried. She thinks about it because she's him, right? But she just is like, you know, it is what it is. People are going to hate on me. They're going to hate on her just for the color of her skin in the WNBA. It's sad. Well, you can put all that to rest because Nafisa picked Angel. But Nafisa is like her... one of her WNBA mothers. They're really close. You know me. You wanted the story. You want to see Bird and Magic kissing in the finals. I want them to write their own story. What's happening right now The media and people that are not fans are writing the story. So I think that Angel is more concerned about the feedback and the backlash that she gets. But as far as Caitlyn, one-to-one, right? So this is the thing. As a competitor, I do think that Angel and LSU beating Caitlyn, right? Because they're the ones that stopped the fairytale ending, right? So just as a competitor, that's going to always be under her skin, right? You took my one shining moment. Everybody was talking about me, you know what I mean? Kind of the best player in the NCAA. We're on this historic run. We're selling out, you know, all of these kind of arenas. And Angel took it. they took it and then she was like and you can't see me South Carolina took it you know they shut her down so it wasn't you know she had more problems than just Angel but you know I like a good story but going back to the fans that really are not fans today was a perfect example of that people were pissed because today there was a game at 11.30. It was Chicago versus Washington. So I'm watching while I'm working. They were pissed. Watching while you're working. You heard it here. We coined that. Watching while you're working. I do that all the time. I'm like this. But they were pissed. Why is this game on at 10.30 Central Time? 11.30 Eastern Time? Well, the WNBA has a history of playing day games during the summer so that camp kids and and and kids and daycare can come to a wnba game yeah it's a tradition it's like but because they're not really fans they don't know they're just bandwagon fans yeah and they don't really even understand they don't know about camp days it's called camp day oh i like that and it's like so we will be having we'll be taking camp day when when detroit gets a team but You know, so that just goes to show, like, these fans and not the media. The media is a problem, too. The WNBA is a problem, too, because they feed into this, too. Referees are a problem. Yeah, it's ongoing. I love that Angel was cussing them out the other day. Yeah. But I don't know. Do we talk about this? But are you in favor of the shock event? the name coming back to detroit i don't remember what you said yes okay it's a must all right wbl gotta give that up it's a must but we did talk about whether or not we as women as avid female fans right of sports in general have been given sufficient air time to the wnba no Well, you said, no, we have it on the podcast. Oh, on here? Yeah, we talked about it. Oh, I'll make sure then. We're going to talk about the WBA. Right. Well, I would say we definitely could give more. But, you know, there's two things with our podcast. We talk about this, that we want to also highlight sports that are not traditional sports. you know, tradition do not have a traditional female fan base. Yeah. Yeah. Or growing female fan base. And I was all for doing a WNBA only episode only because I feel like it would challenge me. Right. So even though I'm a NBA kind of junkie, I don't really pay as much attention to the WNBA as you do. So I don't watch it now. I'm a sports fan. like journalist junkie too so I'll read articles like every day and kind of look at box scores and things but as far as watching yeah I think I want to kind of grow my viewership of the WNBA so that I can you know I can go one-on-one with Jen and you know what I don't want you to go one-on-one one-to-one with me I want you to come with what you know and I want I want to teach you and I want you to teach me because I don't know these NBA players. I mean, so I want to learn from you during this podcast and I want to teach you during this podcast. And as we have guests on here, we'll both learn together. Yeah. You know, we get together. fan interaction from, because we're going to have fans, fan interaction on social media or our channels. Bring them into the conversation, too, because I want to learn more. But you know what it is, too? I think there's been an evolution, obviously, with the WNBA. So as someone who played kind of AAU, high school, almost college, when the NBA... WNBA came out, remember it was like they were trying to appeal to the male viewer more. Remember those skinny leotards? Do you remember when the WNBA first came out, the players wore these leotards? They were like trying to be sexy. Yeah, it was. And so I think for me, I'm pretty, I'm almost a hundred percent sure. Yeah. They were like one kind of one piece kind of short, you know what I mean? And I was like, and so I think it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth early on, you know what I mean? So now I feel like I need to kind of double back, give it another chance. Um, but yeah, I also feel, you know, I still watch. I watched a lot of NCAA in those early years. So, you know, Dawn Staley, Cheryl Swoops, you know, all of them. But once the WNBA, I was like, yeah, yeah. Y'all trying to, as my child was a teen would say, cater to the male gaze too much. Really? Yeah. You know what I think about WNBA because it's playing the summer. A lot of times they don't get, they're not getting the press that they should because it's a summer game and you're competing with NBA summer league teams. You know, we were competing with baseball. So I think that's why, you know, the WNBA doesn't get as much exposure. But, you know, so this is a good time. I mean, I've always followed, I followed the WNBA since day one. And so that's, to see it have this, you know, resurgence in popularity or this, You know, growth and popularity is great for me. I used to know, like I said, I play fantasy sports like basketball because I don't know a lot about the players. So I try to learn more. But yeah, so because... Resident nephew Elijah is not here with the aunties. I had to fact check myself, so I was wrong, but they did explore the leotard. Oh, because I was going to say, I didn't see that. Yeah, so in 1997, they did explore different uniform concepts during the design phase, including leotards and unitards. Oh my goodness. That would have been a disaster. Australian Olympic team in 1996 when they wore a leotard, but they ultimately opted for jerseys and shorts like everyone else. So I definitely remember seeing the designs and I was like, oh no. So I think that just turned me off early on. But this is something that we talked about earlier too, because it was a high point or something that I caught that went viral. So this whole notion of catering to a male or female gaze, right, in sports, right? And when you say gaze, it's G-A-Z-E. Right, G-A-Z-E, yes. Not to the gaze. Right, yes. So, for you who aren't familiar, right, catering to the male or female gaze is this idea that as a person, right, the way that you dress or the way that you present yourself is to garner a level of sexual attraction regardless of your gender or what have you so I caught this clip of Gilbert Arenas which had me cracking up because this is I think the first time that I've heard a male athlete actually say that they were trying to cater to the female gay so he was recounting a story on his podcast where he was trying to renegotiate his contract with Adidas and Adidas told them, are you just really not popular? This was, of course, before social media, before going popular. So kind of playing them in the negotiations. Oh, you're just not popular enough. So he said he went out and he hired a marketing firm to help kind of, you know, promote his image to help him think strategically about what he needed to do in order to garner more fans. So they told him that he needed to take off his shirt and show his abs after the game. Show that six pack, baby. Show it off. And then the second thing which had me cracking up was that he said in front of his co-host that they told him to wear his shorts lower on his hips so that the women could see his booty. He should have fired though and got a refund. So like Nick Young and the rest of them was like, man, we can't believe you out here. You know what I'm saying? Right. I can't believe you out here saying this. And he was like, I mean, that's what they told me. He was like, I swear for God. But he said he did it. And then he said he threw a party. He spent a million dollars to throw a birthday day party, and he had Diddy as the host, and he made it private. He had a Diddy party, so they was roasting him about that, but he said it worked. He said he was able to

UNKNOWN 0:00

...

SPEAKER_00 19:53

They was only trying to give him two million, but he was able to renegotiate his contract for five million. I just was thinking, it was like, to what extent do male athletes really try to cater to the anti-gays right to the female gays I've never thought about that and I've never heard anyone actually admit to doing it I think the whole you know the fashion runway is a little bit of that just to you know women are the tonal looks yeah the tonal fits are a lot of that but You know, on the court, I think in other ways, off the court, they probably do more of that. But on the court, I don't know. Yeah, because I mean, I never thought like that the jersey swap or the, you know what I'm saying, taking off your jersey or what was the... the professional the olympian the soccer player the female soccer player who ripped off her after they won i mean i think that that was like a genuine emotional response but i was like girl but we know like sports illustrated right and there i think those are probably two examples sports illustrated when they do the swimsuit issue and then i don't ESP and the mag, they went under. But remember, they would have the annual Naked issue where they would- Yeah. Where they would- I still got some issues tucked away. I used to subscribe. My brother, I think I gave it to him, but I gave him the one with Serena on

SPEAKER_01 21:40

the

SPEAKER_00 21:40

cover. Okay. But there was, oh yeah. Right. So there was a couple of those. Yeah. I got to go home and look for my- What is his name? He used to be, I think the last one I saw was, he used to be the Cleveland Browns, Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett. Now that one, I was like, okay. Funny story. Funny story. I had surgery back in 2013, maybe. I was recovering, so my mother came and sat with me for the day.

UNKNOWN 22:19

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

And that's when the magazines were out. Oh, okay, okay. Why was she sitting at the table? She was so foul-skinned. I can't even get it out. She was like, mmm. And I was like, what are you reading? And all I hear is, mmm. And I come out, you know, I'm dragging. And I look and she's looking at one of them naked issues. I'm like, mom, what are you doing? And for context, I don't even think she knew she was moaning. How old was your mother at that point? Your mother's about to turn 90 years old. Give it up for Mama Ginger and B. How old was she then? Um. So what was that, what, 20 years? So she was about 70? It was 20, 25, so what was that, 12 years ago? Okay. So she was about 78. Mama said I'm cheating. She was still driving because she drove over, so. Okay. And I heard, I heard, mmm. Shout out to Miles Garrett. I totally forgot about this story until you just talked about it. But for me, this is going to be something that I am going to, I think you know what I'm saying follow or at least pay attention to right because as we have talked about kind of privately right sports in general hasn't catered to the female fan you know what I mean the market is vastly under tapped so I wonder to the extent again that agents or business managers I mean we saw it definitely with Travis Kelsey right people were very clear that him being in a relationship with Taylor Swift was going to expand his marketability. He started dressing differently. Definitely. He went from white chocolate to vanilla wafer. They called him a police officer with that mustache. That's right. The mustache. He got rid of the beard. He's grown his hair out. You know what's funny? What? I think I might be a Taylor Swift fan. I mean, I have a couple of Taylor Swift jams. No, I don't like her music. I like her philanthropy side. You know, her philanthropic side. But I think people... bashing her for being at the games and I think I probably was like oh get the camera off her it kind of I like an underdog right so when they start bashing the person then I start like defending them like why y'all messing with her she there for her man her man her man but yes so but no I mean I do so The oldest was definitely a Swifty, went to her last concert, but didn't really pay any attention to football until they started dating. But I was a Travis Kelsey fan, right? I always thought he was fine. So to see his... Whoa, he's still fine. I can't... It's not giving the same vibe, right? So... Now, it's two country. He ain't losing looks. No, but it's the styling. It's too country club for me. I need a little, you know. You can change that. Kayla changed it. I need a little crunch with the vanilla. Look, there's not. Look, he's not. He is vanilla. I know, but he had a little bit more ruggedness before. He was Kayla. But that's what I'm saying. When he was dating a black woman, he had a little bit more. ruggedness a little bit more street wear look more street wear looks now but um I do think that the difference in styling, the difference in the haircut, right, is to make him more mainstream to her fans to match her style, but also setting him up for retirement, right? So he's coming out with the movie. Everybody knows he's like a much more articulate, even the podcast, right, centered on him and his brother. You know, people getting to see his personality. He's a much better looking and much more articulate guy. tight end than Gronk because people thought Gronkowski was going to have a big post NFL career in Hollywood but he's not as articulate but Travis Kelsey will and a part of it is this relationship with Taylor Swift so he catering to the female gays yeah G-A-Z-E G-A-Z-E the gays not the gays that's funny I was like what did she mean the gays I was like what other gays is there but yeah now I get it not the girls but the gays um NBA little bit of NBA um I thought it was interesting that the Knicks hired Mike Brown as coach oh I think I missed that I missed that yeah they made it official they hired Mike Brown Mike Brown um He was most recently with the coach of the Sacramento Kings. Yeah, which I felt like didn't give him a fair shake. You know, I'm what I don't understand for these teams is when they are under a head coach and they achieve more than they have in the past 10, 15, 20 years. And then, oh, we don't win a championship. So you're gone. It's like, be grateful. Yeah. Right. Enjoy. at least where you are because you are 10 times better in a better position than when you were. I like Mike Brown. I think he is just a genuine good guy, but I don't know if he has, do you think he has a thick enough skin for New York? So I was thinking about, you know, so let me just run out a few things about Mike Brown. He has won four titles as an assistant coach. Two with Golden State, two with San Antonio. In 2023, he took Sacramento to postseason for the first time since 2006. So like you said, got them further than they've been in 20 years. He was two-time coach of the year, 2009 in Cleveland.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

The LeBron years. The LeBron years. Yes, the LeBron years. But he got fired during the season in 2023 in Sacramento after he went 13 and 18 during the season. They had enough. He's 454 and 304 as a head coach. He's coached at Cleveland, LA, and Sacramento. because he was an assistant for the Lakers yeah he was a head coach was that LeBron years 2.0 yeah okay so in my opinion is he led the Cavs to the finals in 2007 so he's been to Won two championships as an assistant, led the Cavs as a head coach to the finals in 2007. So when I was first thinking, when they hired him, I was like, to me, his resume mirrors Tom Thibodeau's a lot. They took their teams to the playoffs for the first time in many, many years. And I was thinking to myself, what's the difference? Well, a lot of the The Knicks didn't think that Tibbs could take New York to the finals. They just couldn't get past that hurdle. Another thing was the way he played his players. The substitution patterns and stuff like that. And players were criticizing that. So there was dissension in the locker room. So they felt like Mike Brown... is more of a player development coach that could come in and get them over this hump, not only take them to the finals, but win, gives them a better chance to win. I think it's a good hire. I like Mike Brown. I wish Sacramento wouldn't have been as impatient as they were, but I feel like he has a great chance to get New York over that hump. Yeah, I was thinking about the player development piece, but also back to this question, he was of course under the microscope in LA. He was under the microscope when he was in Cleveland. But Knicks, New York fans are brutal. New York fans, it's a tough market. I also don't know if I want to come in as a head coach when my star player's daddy is sitting on the bench. They talked about reducing Brunson's role as an assistant. I don't know what that means. Right. Right. So that that's going to be very interesting. Yeah. Because the talk was that they were trying to finagle making him the head coach. Yeah. But he got to go. You can be a player. You can work player development with your son. Yeah. You know, because sometimes they let stars bring in, you know, a trainer or something. You could do that. Yeah. You're not going to sit on my bench and your son is a star player. A star player who, by the way, Becky Hammond. doesn't feel is going to ever be able to get them to the promised land. There's this clip of her talking about how small guards just don't win championships. She was like, unless you are the best shooter of all time. In today's league, I think it was Kevin Durant was also on a podcast talking about the lifespan or the utility of a six-feet 6'2 guard in the NBA basically it's the end of an era right unless you do one thing better than anybody else right Steph Curry shoot or whatever so she was just saying Brunson is you know he a dog but he ain't gonna get you there but I wish Mike Brown um I wish Mike Brown well. I want to see him win a championship on his own. I feel like he should get as many chances as Doc Rivers. You know what I'm saying? Doc done won one championship, but... he always land on his feet. You know, Mike Brown had to sit out for a little bit, but, um, I wish him well. I wish him well. Proves that Mark Jackson has been black balls. That's like, I don't know what's going on there, but, um, So, yeah, so that'll be interesting. Our boy Anthony Davis had surgery for a detached retina, but they say he'll be ready for the season. Now, I don't want him to be. Apparently, he was getting hit in the face during the season, and so he got a detached retina. But, you know, I want no issues with this eye during the season. So, you know. We've been talking about tennis the past couple weeks. Yeah, yeah, Ben Shelton. Yeah, so Sabalenka won today. So she's headed to the semis. So the men's... Or quarterfinals. The men's semis are set. Taylor Fritz from the USA is advanced to the semis against Carlos Alcarez. Oh, yes. Alcarez. Love Alcarez. So they'll play on Friday. I kind of, you know, I'm always rooting for the USA. So Fritz, if he can pull that out. Then number one, Yannick Center. He'll face number 10, Ben Shelton. tomorrow morning in the quarterfinals. Center almost didn't... He was losing. He was losing against Grigor Dimitrov. But Dimitrov had to... He had a pectoral injury, so he had to retire from the game. So Center moved on. I think it's... Again, I'm always rooting for the U.S., even though center's number one in the world. Yeah. Shelton's number 10. Um, he's speaking. He, yeah, but he, but he, so he's in a good position, but, and, but center has an elbow injury that they're monitoring. So that's, that could be something that just go ahead and just sit down, you know, Ben Shelton, you know, he's dating, um, soccer superstar Trinity Rob. That's right. I was watching a match the other day. And they and and I thought that she had a sister named Tiffany because the announcer was like, yeah, Tiffany Rodman is here. And, you know, you know, her dad is. Yeah. And she had to call him out. And she did get to get the black girl's name. Right. Yeah. What was I was going to say? Two things. One. Shelton, and I was just looking it up, because I was like, who was he in a relationship with before? But he was in a relationship with the Olympian, Anna Hall, who was, I think, a decathlon. But what was interesting is her dad played football at Michigan, and her and Trinity... they basically the same woman biracial really tall I think he has a type yes biracial biracial very tall athletic I was like is this the same person because I was like she looks but no it's Trinity so yeah I saw that post about her like get my name right but also like let him shine you know and stop bringing up my father which I think is a Right. She's very clear and has been very clear that her and her father have an estranged relationship. They don't talk. They're not in each other's life. So, you know, out of, I think, respect for her and him. Stop bringing up my daddy. Right. You know what I mean? But I think you made a good point that. His whole family's in the box. Yeah. They come, you know, even though she comes to mostly all his game, his matches, his family, his parents are in the box. And you know, oh, his parents are there. And Tiffany Rodman. Right. Loud and wrong. At least acknowledges his parents. I thought it was so cute, though, when he talked about his sister being his good luck charm, being there all week. Wanted to get her off. Right. Wanted to get her off. That's right. And I heard that actually they did give her the week off. They had to. It was a good free publicity for them as well. So I like Ben Shelton. I think he, you know, we haven't seen an American go far except for, what's his name? Oh, my gosh. Tia Ford. Oh, yeah. so you know he got far Tiafoe right so he got far in the US Open but he's never been able to like kind of get over the hump so both of them I think they're really good friends I'm excited but I was talking to a friend this weekend about just really wanting to live you know as you get a little bit older she's younger than me but you know she just turned 40 this year she was saying you know I just there's so much more that I want to do now she's not a sports girly at all she's not But when she pulled up her bucket list, guess what was on her bucket list? Go to the US Open. No, she wants floor seats at a WNBA game. Oh, really? I was so shocked by that. So it had me really thinking, okay, what is my bucket list? What is my bucket list? And so it just came to me when we were talking about Wimbledon. I would love to go to Wimbledon. Would you? That's on my bucket list. I've been to the U.S. Open, but I feel like Wimbledon is just a much more kind of prestigious Grand Slam. I want to be in my little summer white cute outfit with my little sunglasses on in the box. Yeah, you know what my bucket list is. I mentioned my bucket list a few episodes ago. It's to go to every NFL state, a game at every NFL state. But it's all I've added to it. I do want to go to a game at every WNBA state. arena because they say going to a game at Barclays where the New York Liberty play is a once in a lifetime experience like we've been to Barclays Center but a WNBA game oh we can go there because normally so like Atlanta, their arena has like 3,500 people. There's like 15,000 people. Oh, yeah. Let me reach out to Charlie. So my nieces. Yeah, Charlie. Charlie, hook that up. Charlie. Maybe we can make that happen. So my nieces ex best friend works for the New York Liberty. So I text her right now. But So really excited. So it just, when you said Wimbledon bench, I was like, I want to do that. So that's cause I don't have a bucket list. So that is on my bucket list. I'm also excited. I think this is an ongoing question to ask aunties or people who come on. It's like, what is their sports bucket list? Yeah. Right. I asked people. Cause I was so shocked that Janae was like, I want NBA, but she didn't, she didn't specify. It wasn't like the finals or playoffs. She was just like, I want to be on the floor. WNBA or NBA? NBA. Oh, NBA. NBA. Yeah. She wants to be on the floor for NBA game. Okay. But right. Also in the news, we had Naomi, Osaka right yeah so I was yeah so with Trinity and Dennis Rodman having that relationship and them putting that focus and that extra pressure on her about that relationship you know it kind of segues into what a conversation we were having and I actually had this conversation the other day with someone about the tennis players that are suffering from mental health issues. Naomi Osaka lost her match, and I was watching, and I really thought she was going to pull it out. I really thought she was going to come back in that second set and take it to a third set, but she lost, and she was just like she had nothing good to say. Nothing good to say, nothing positive to say. You know, it was her daughter's birthday this week, and that was the only positive thing she could think of to say. And, you know, that and then Sabalenka came. I just call her Sabalenka because I don't want to call her nothing else. But another player on the men's side, it was... Why can't I think of his name? Pause. Who? Pause. Oh, he don't pause. Pause. Who? On the men's side, the player. Who? What player? I'm about to tell you. He also came out and said he lost a match and He said that he had no, you know, he could find no joy in the sport. He could find no joy outside of tennis. Was that the man who was hiding in the bathrooms? No. During his matches, he was taking the extra long breaks? I don't know. Was he? I don't know. So, JG, we need a break while she look it up. No, I'm about to.

UNKNOWN 44:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:06

I had it written on the sheet.

SPEAKER_00 44:09

I'm so mad right now. He's going to have to edit this out. I want to say Dimitrov. No, that was the other one. Okay, go ahead. Hold on, hold on. I got to look. I'm going to tell you. Oh, Alexander Zverev. Zverev he opened up he was saying that he could find no joy outside but his is a little bit different he's had some a few abuse allegations against him Abusing his significant other. He's abused like his baby mama. I don't want to say baby mama, but the mother of his child. He's been accused of abusing her. They settled in court. He's got another lawsuit where he abused another girl, a significant other. Oh. And he... What's his name again? Alexander... I'm going to look that up. Zverev. Why can't I say his name? But and he got he got promoted to a position on like an advisory council. And that was the controversial thing. So him him saying that, you know, he's found no joy outside of tennis is because he's got these things going on. So they tried to say, you know, equate that to what? Naomi Osaka was saying. Another thing that they tried to do was say that Naomi Osaka started acting this way after she got into this relationship with Cordae, the rapper. No. Naomi Osaka has been speaking out about her mental health. since before that. Before she had the baby, she may be dealing with some postpartum depression, but there's a lot of pressure. When you win as young as she did, and then when she won, there was the controversy with Serena that kind of overshadowed her win and all that. When you win that young and then you're always trying to get back to that win, it's not a team sport. You're by yourself. that's a lot of pressure on one person. This is a conversation I was having, you know, you're, you're, you're on that court by yourself and you have to make it happen. That's a lot of pressure and it adds, you know, to your, to mental health issues. Yeah. But I can, I don't know. I can't really separate the failure of the relationship. I think it's probably all mixed in there together, right? In the sense that it exacerbated it. Yeah, you achieved at a high level. I was actually thinking about what I was going to say on the way here about this. And this is the auntie take. Girls, don't let the YN shoot up the club. That's the takeaway. Well, yeah. I mean, that's a big one. Yeah, I mean, because it's You know, she was very focused. Right. She said she'd been playing tennis. Right. Her and her sister, really, since they were really young. I think her sister is older. So since three years old, you probably didn't have a lot of time to date. You get into your first serious relationship. Y'all end up living together. Right. Within a year or two, you pregnant. He's showing up at the games. You still winning. You still holding together. But then you get pregnant. Right. Yeah. It's going to take a while for her body just to get back to the level that it was. I think Serena was very honest about this whole pregnancy. Then y'all break up. Now he out here living his best single life. And as much as he could be an active parent, the baby is with her. Yeah. Right. But she exhibited these signs before any of that. Right. So if you don't, if it's never addressed, it's only it only gets worse when all that stuff that's right that's right and that's what I'm saying like they were like oh no he made her start no no she's always been a little bit I don't know I don't want to say emotionally fragile because I feel like that maybe minimize it she really could just be the type of person you know I I have people in my family who deal with anxiety. Right. So that's just I was really anxious. Right. When I was younger. So I feel like maybe she was just struggles with anxiety or struggles with depression and has been transparent about it because she she pulled out of something before the pregnancy, right? Because of, yeah, because of her mental health. So I think you're right. It's not his fault. It's probably exacerbated the pregnancy, the relationship. But when I saw the clip, I just felt so sad.

SPEAKER_01 49:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 49:13

So sad. She also spoke out and said she didn't like the way that it was edited because it made her seem, you know what I'm saying? Like she, you know was just you know at the end of her role I mean she did she she said it but what she responded by was saying that she talked to her father and that her father was telling her that since he's older he's recognizing that he's kind of on the last half of his life and so there's you could approach that and be really sad, right? That you're getting older or you can have a sense of gratitude. And so she was saying, you know, and he told her, this is kind of like where you are in your career, right? But I don't feel like she's at the tail end of her career. She's still so young, but her heart just may not be in it anymore. And if that's the case, you know, go live your life girl. But yeah. So the funny thing, And it's not funny, but the ironic thing is her game has gotten much better

SPEAKER_01 50:20

this

SPEAKER_00 50:22

year than I've ever seen. So there's she, you know, hopefully somebody could sit her down and just look at that video of how much better she's playing. Yeah. Like, you know, is, you know, you could just see it. So. But the other thing this does, at least for me, is it makes me appreciate Serena even more. Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying? How hard that was. How hard, but the fact that she won the Australian while she was pregnant. She came back and won after the pregnancy. You know what I mean? Shoot, I obviously am not a professional athlete. I didn't feel like myself... until at least three years after pregnancy. It's probably three years, maybe four, before I really felt like my old self. It was funny because Karis was probably seven or eight, and my therapist was like, I think you had postpartum depression. I was like, huh, was that what it was? Because I was saying I didn't feel like myself. I was struggling, having a really hard time. I told my sister I wanted to put the iron on my husband. You wanted to do a penny? I wanted to do a penny. Wow. I wanted to do a penny. I was irate one day. Oh, my God. For something very, very small. And it was just like a tape. I was like, oh, I'm about to like... on his arm, and so I was talking to my sister. I called her up like, she's like, what's wrong? And I told her like, oh, it was literally because he changed his clothes. We was going someplace. You can't even change his clothes. Not when I didn't ask you a week before what you're wearing, because I only got two outfits. Postpartum, I got two, maybe three outfits to wear. You were trying to matchy match? It was a work event. It was a work event for him. He was going casual, so I'm going to put on one pair of jeans, I got that fit. he come out not casual. So I'm irate, looking in the irate, trying to change the clothes. Like, why you ain't tell me you was changing clothes? So in my mind, I was just like, he going to stop effing with me. I lost my hair. My teeth afterwards were like really loose. All of that stuff from after you have a baby. It's like life changing. And so nobody told me I was going to be skee-balled On both sides. Nobody told me my teeth was going to be a little bit shaky for a while. Nobody told me that I was going to want to burn somebody with an iron. But my sister talked me down. She was like, what I need you to do is keep your lips together. She was like, don't say nothing else. And she was like, keep the iron on the iron board. Whenever you want to lift it up, just keep it on. And I'm going to talk to you until you finish ironing. your outfit okay and you get your outfit on and i tell this story quite frequently especially to new moms because i think it's important and significant others but he always be like you be laughing so hard and not because i really wanted to burn him but now that i think about it you can look outside of your body yeah like that was crazy as hell but it's almost like so now we're older yeah so have you heard about what happens during period menopause period menopause because my sister is schooling me right now and I'm like what did you say what and I'm thank God I'm not there yet but it's oh well I'm about to I'm about to knock on the laminate right here knock on the wood because I for the most part am good

SPEAKER_01 54:25

like

SPEAKER_00 54:26

I don't have any of the symptoms that I hear a lot of other women talking about sometimes I have my own individual summer but I have heard about the rage I'm a part of a menopause group group on Facebook and people, the stories in there are outrageous. But I can imagine already having maybe some anxiety or maybe suffering from depression, having a child, having a relationship that you obviously think is solid enough to have a child, and then being expected to compete at the highest level. Right. It's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of pressure, whether it's external pressure or even her own pressure that she's putting on herself. And again, I think it's that... You're out there by yourself. You turn to the right. There's nobody there. You can't pass the ball to somebody and they make the shot. You've got to serve that. And it's a lot. Even Coco saying that she was just overwhelmed after winning the French Open. Not only did she win the French Open, but she had to deal with the negativity that Sabalenka brought her way. So there's just... There's so much pressure in that fishbowl that I can't even imagine what they go through. And you have the NBA players, stars, like Paul George, who came out and said because he heard DeMar DeRozan, his good friend, talk about him having mental health challenges, he was able to speak up. You know, it's... Yeah, Kevin Love. He's been very open about that. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think it's one, right? A part of it is sometimes genetic. Yes. Right. But I also think and a few people have talked about this as well. I'm trying to think who was it? Maybe it was Kevin Durant talking about his conversation with Steve Kerr. about winning a championship and how you win your first before you win your first championship you feel like that's the pinnacle and when you get there it's like so much is going to change you're going to be so satisfied and Steve Kerr was like yeah no you're not right like you win it but like everything else right it becomes kind of less fulfilling or less shiny the more time goes on then you want something else but he was like you have to find joy and content outside of the sport right and so other players right Steph was talking about you know he was like Steph has his family Draymond now has his family right Clay Clay is going to be a forever bachelor but he was they were saying didn't seem like Durant had a source of contentment outside of you know being a professional player and that's what I think Naomi has to cultivate right something has to be able to bring her joy outside of the sport especially now when she's struggling to get back to where she was but yeah shout out to Serena again the GOAT because Now we see how difficult it is to compete at that level, to be on mentally, physically, emotionally, and to win at that high of a level. It was really sad. I was really sad for her. I was seeing a lot of people's comments and they were just like, man, we hope she gets there. I am, you know, I love the open, so I am excited to see how all these storylines kind of come together under the lights in New York City. But yeah. Yeah. I'm looking forward to the... So I just, I was looking at the... The rosters that they chose for the All-Star game. It'll be interesting. They play the game on the 19th, so I'm looking forward to that. Detroit Tigers, still the best. All right, all right. I got to upgrade. Give me another little jersey. This weekend, they slept the Cleveland Guardians, so they were wheeling and dealing. And I've just so we really I really want to do some more features on them and really talk about the season that they're having. The All-Star game is coming up. The Tigers have three starters. And I believe that I think McKinstry may be a reserve. So they may have four starters. I'm pretty sure Tariq Scouble is going to be a starter. So they probably will have four starters on the team. Three or four starters. They're just having an awesome season. And I cannot go through an episode without mentioning them because... I'm a homer, and they're having just a spectacular season, so shout out to the Tigers. Maybe that's what I'll do. I'll do some time this month, because that really is my favorite thing to do in the summer downtown, like catch a Friday, Saturday night game with the fireworks. Can't be too hot, though. I hate... being at the stadium when it's sticky hot my favorite seats of the stadium are k lion's corner the tiger club the wooden seats so they they have wooden seats with tables in between oh yeah yeah and they're covered so like if the sun is out you get some shade those are my favorite seats and then you can go in the tiger club and and you know uh purchase the stuff in their suit Yeah, we usually go to K-Line's Corner. I think they're behind, maybe between home and first, but they're like a specialty ticket. But yeah, I'm going to look it up and see because I do want to go. Hopefully people won't be acting crazy. At the game, people need to hold their liquor. I think the last game I went to was with my father-in-law for Father's Day and our family. We almost got into a fight. Oh, no. No, no, no. It's crazy. That's why I say I hate when Metro Detroiters come into the city and they drink too much and act belligerent. That... gets my go where they start drinking at 7 in the morning yeah I just hate it Thanksgiving day game where they start drinking early in the morning crazy by the time the game starts you know that's what I'm saying they want to fight they want to put their hands on people and it just goes it goes bad but yeah I'm going to do that before I go back to work go to a game so there's one thing that I don't like that I just read that I found out about the WNBA All-Star game so the coach of Indiana Stephanie White was going to coach Nafisa Collier's team and Sandy Brondella was going to coach Caitlin's team they flipped coaches I don't like that so what was the purpose of having so Stephanie White could coach Caitlin Clark and Aaliyah Ballster Well, I mean, why? Or Stephanie White was going to coach the thesis team in Sandy Burdell. So I don't like that. Well, I also understand why you wouldn't coach in the division that you play. So if you represent in the East, then you should be coaching the East team. Oh, I'm sorry. Wait, Cheryl Reeve was going to be. Okay, I'm sorry. Stephanie White is not even the coach. Okay, I'm fine. Okay, I don't like it. You still don't like it. Because now Cheryl Reeve is going to coach Minnesota. LaFeesa Collier's team. That's her coach. I don't like that. I don't want her coach to coach her. I want the other coach to coach her. But anyway. I don't know. But she just went along. You want everybody to get along? I was loud and wrong. I had the right concept, but I was loud and wrong in the beginning. I didn't want Kaitlyn Clark's coach to coach her. I also don't want Nafisa Collier's coach to coach her. Anyway, that's my take. Look. I ain't got nothing else to say. Well, is that a wrap? That's a wrap. We hope. Also, we should share about nephew Elijah. So nephew Elijah is not here with us today. He is away at Syracuse University participating in a sports management summer program. So his love for sports runs deep and wants to pursue it in college and ultimately pursue a career summer. in the sports entertainment field so Elijah we'll still send you this so you can give us our notes post episode but we know you're doing well there in Syracuse so shout out to E yeah yeah yeah so thank you everybody thank you for tuning in to aunties talk sports where we're all we're two aunties with two mics and all game Be sure to follow us on all our social media channels and send us any questions or topics that you want us to discuss. And we are out. Peace. Peace. I really like this episode.